


The Enchanted Florists

by B_does_the_write_thing



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Prompt Fill, Trope: Go to My Ex's Wedding with Me, Trope: Secretly In Love With Each Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:44:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5723182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B_does_the_write_thing/pseuds/B_does_the_write_thing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When her ex invites her to his wedding, Belle agrees to attend despite her misgivings. However, on the day of what was supposed to be her wedding, she finds herself asking the one man she shouldn't to accompany her- her boss, Nicholas Gold.</p><p>-Nominated for Best Date in the 2017 T.E.A's-</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Enchanted Florists

**Author's Note:**

> Nevermore prompted: Ex Wedding Trope and since i've secretly always wanted to write these two going to weddings together, this was perfect.

If there was a god, he had a decidedly terrible sense of humor. 

It was barely nine o’clock in the morning, but Belle had been up for hours. After all, it wasn’t everyday that one’s ex-fiance gets married. Or more precisely, gets married, hires his ex as the florist, and then insist she attend the wedding as well. But Gaston had always been unconventional, which is why Belle supposed she had agreed to marry him after their whirlwind courtship. 

Mercifully, she had resisted his attempts to elope, insisting her father would never forgive her. If she had let him talk her into a shotgun wedding, she would be thirty-three and divorced and single, instead of just single. 

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Belle nearly knocked over the centerpiece she had been working on, but her companion had quick reflexes. He righted it, but still managed to soak his suit sleeves thoroughly. Belle, with a wince, offered him the towel on her lap, which he took with a small grimace of thanks.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Gold,” she told him earnestly. “I’m afraid I was miles away.”

“I noticed,” he teased her, finishing with the towel before placing it neatly on the workspace between them. “Is this about the Knight-Shang wedding this afternoon?”

Belle nodded, redding slightly. Nicholas Gold, new owner of Game of Thorns, had a way of making her blush. He had been silent partner in her father’s florist shop since the doors opened, and had bought out her father’s shares when Maurice had retired to Maui. 

Her father had resisted the buy out at first, but Belle had seen the wisdom of it. With her student debt loans, she couldn’t afford to buy her father’s shares out and she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to. She wanted more than a lifetime of cutting stems and arranging blossoms. Gold acquiring the business had allowed her the opportunity to begin to take classes online. In less than two years, she would earn her master's degree, be able to pay off her loans, and could move to wherever the wind took her. 

Plus… Belle rather liked Nicholas. He was difficult, she readily admitted, having seen his lack of people skills on numerous occasions, but she liked him for all his hard edges. He probably would hate to admit it, but she had seen him work deals with people, offering them discounts for advertising in their programs or referring his various businesses to friends and families. Nicholas Gold was a man people did not easily warm to, but he seemed to prefer it that way. Belle had always ignored his outward persona, treating him the same as everyone else which he seemed to grudgingly respect. Over time, they had even become friends of sorts, or as much as an employer could befriend his employee. 

“If you are having second thoughts…”

Belle looked back over at Nicholas to find him staring fixedly at the arrangement between them, carefully avoiding her gaze. A rush of gratitude flooded through Belle and she reached out to lay her hand gently over his hand that rested lightly on top of his cane. 

“Thank you,” she said. He nodded, jaw tense as he glanced down at where her hand covered his. She withdrew it, smiling fondly up at him. Nicholas was incredibly private, but he never seemed to mind her casual touches, more confused than annoyed usually. With a sigh, she shook her head. “It’s no good, I promised Gaston’s mother I would come, and she’d be heartbroken if I didn’t show up.”

“I didn’t realize you two were close,” he replied, reaching out absently to pick up a loose petal that had fallen in the vase’s near tumble. He rubbed it between his fingers, and Belle’s eyes, caught on the way the small white petal looked between his slender hands, nearly forgot to reply until she realized he was staring at her.

Standing, she brushed her hair behind her ear, smiling ruefully at him. “Yes, well it’s not every day that a mother’s only son brings home a fiance. She treated me like the daughter she never had.” Belle smiled, as she moved to the sink to wash her hands. She had been overwhelmed by Mrs. Knight’s warm embraces and homemade cookies. She had cried when Gaston had confessed everything to her, but not for the reasons he had assumed. She would have liked to have a family. She loved her father dearly, but she never saw him now that he lived in Hawaii and he seemed more than happy to let her get on with her life without him. 

“When we called the wedding off, for obvious reasons, she took everything rather well. Her only condition was that I stay a part of the family.” Belle choked up a bit, laughing as she shrugged her shoulders. “I never had a mother, she never had a daughter. So, sure I may have lost a fiance but I gained a mother, brother. Now, I’m getting a brother- in-law to boot.”

Li Shang had been their wedding planner. With hair as black as Gaston’s and a smile as equally as disarming, she had felt rather lackluster in the presence of the two men. Shang had been a marvel though, dismissing the long engagement period and helping to set everything up months in advance. Gaston had taken to him, which had surprised her at first, but the more she saw them together, challenging each other at the gym, drinking beers while staying up all night to talk sports, testing new hair product, she had admitted they worked well together.

They had thought so too. Not two months after meeting Li, Gaston had confessed to her he was in love with the wedding planner. Despite her initial shock of being jilted, she had always known, deep down that she had not been in love with Gaston, not the way he or she deserved to be loved forever and always. They had parted amicably, and even Li had showed up to her door, near in tears, to ask her permission to go out with her ex. She had given him her blessing and been happy to see love, true love, blossom between the two of them. 

They had even asked her to be in the wedding, but she had declined. She wasn’t sure she was up to standing up at the altar, on the very day she had planned to marry Gaston before everything went pear shaped. Belle had been happy to offer her services as their florist, and Nicholas had even agreed to waive the usual costs after learning she was planning to pay the employee-discounted bill as a wedding present. He told her Shang regularly brought them business and had refused to hear another word about her paying. 

“Ms. French, always the optimist,” Nicholas remarked with a shake of his head. Belle, finishing at the sink, began to take her apron off, looking at the clock hanging over the freezer door to notice that time was slowly ticking away. Nicholas followed her gaze and nodded. “You should get going,” he suggested. “Jefferson is coming in soon to pick up the rest of the flowers for delivery this afternoon, and you can finish the White-Charming anniversary arrangement tomorrow. I’ll see you then, enjoy your evening.”

Glancing around the shop, neat as a pin as always, Belle had to admit he was right. Everything was caught up, including the paperwork and billing information. It was time to face the music. Except the thought of facing it alone...knowing half the people in attendance had been originally planning ot attend her wedding made her knees shake. 

“Mr. Gold?”

He turned back to her, eyebrow raised in silent inquiry. She swallowed, her heart thudding in dread. “I know this is stupid, but…”

Her voice failed her, and she was left staring at him, mouth ajar as she tried to find the words. 

“Yes, Ms. French?” he asked, stepping forward. “What is it?”

“Will you go to the wedding with me?” Belle blurted out, barely leaving space in between the words in case bravery failed her.

Nicholas on the other hand just stared back at her, mouth agape. 

It was, Belle thought, worth the crippling embarrassment to see him rendered speechless.

\--

“Thank you again,” Belle murmured, settling down beside Nicholas in their seats. Looking around the lawn, she recognized a few of Gaston’s friends, a few casting her odd looks. His mother was helping finish the last minute arrangements, although Li’s fellow wedding planner extraordinaire, Mulan, looked to have everything firmly under control. 

Nicholas nodded, although he looked ill at ease. A few people were glancing at the two of them together, and Belle smiled tightly at them in response. Nicholas just glared, and she leaned in to whisper encouragement. “It’s fine, they’re just curious.”

He sighed. “I still don’t understand how my attending is helping.”

Belle held up the program, beautiful calligraphy spelling out the wedding party's names, as well as the details of the ceremony and reception to follow. “This would be in shreds by now if I was sitting here alone,” Belle confided in him. “I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to come.”

He nodded curtly, fingers curling around the handle of his cane. “Jefferson would have been a much better choice,” he sighed. “I would have been happy to ask Neal to deliver the flowers, he wouldn't have minded.”

“Henry had a baseball game today,” Belle reminded him gently. His son Neal was a proud father, but an even more dutiful son. If his father had needed him, he would have risked his wife’s annoyance and his son’s disappointment and Nicholas knew it. “Besides Jefferson would have...caused some talk.”

Gold lifted an eyebrow at her and Belle smiled. “Do you know,” she said casually, “that when you want someone to elaborate, you raise your brow instead of saying anything?”

He looked impressed. “I’m aware,” he admitted. “I prefer to let people do the talking.”

“Really?” Belle giggled. “I wouldn’t never have guessed.” 

He looked away, but Belle saw the smile playing around the corner of his lips. A few people joined them in the row, but Belle did not recognize them. At the front, she could see Mulan arranging the last few finishing touches on the makeshift altar, the flowers from Game of Thorns she left alone though. Belle had helped set them up that morning and they were arranged to perfection. 

“You never answered the question,” Gold said. 

Belle bit her lip, looking about before leaning in to whisper in his ear. He tensed slightly but Belle did not want to risk being overheard. “Jefferson’s openly dated quite a few people here today,” Belle explained. “I didn’t want to cause a scene by bringing him.”

He looked over at her, his brow raised again. Belle laughed, swatting him playfully as he wiggled the other at her. 

“Belle!”

Hurrying towards them, her hat nearly blowing off her head in her rush, came Gaston’s mother. Belle stood, smiling in greeting as Mrs. Knight came to embrace her. “What in the world are you doing all the way in the back row? I’ve saved you a seat up by me!” 

Before Belle could reply, Mrs. Knight’s eyes fell on Gold, who was looking pointedly straightforward. “And who is this?” she asked, widening her eyes at Belle. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing anyone!”

Belle winced. “I hope that’s okay,” she said quickly. “I know I only RSVPed for one but-”

“Okay?” Mrs. Knight exclaimed. “My dear, it’s wonderful! I had so hoped-”

“Gladys!” someone called from the back. “We need you for the procession practice!”

“Oh, duty calls,” she sniffed, eyes watering slightly. “I can’t believe my boy’s getting married. And to such a nice young man.”

“They’re both very lucky,” Belle said, squeezing Gladys’ hand, who looked horrified at her thoughtlessness.

“Not that you weren’t lovely, dear,” she hurried to add, ignoring Mulan who was bearing down on them from the front. “You would have made him very happy, I’m sure.”

“Mrs. Knight,” Mulan said, sidling up to them. “Please come with me, you’re needed for the procession.”

“Go on,” Belle urged, saying her goodbyes as Gladys hurried to follow Mulan to the reception hall where the wedding party was waiting. When she sat back down next to Gold, she sighed in relief. “Thirty five more minutes,” she said to him. “Then, we can drink.”

He laughed, his chuckle warm and low. Belle couldn’t help the flush that accompanied his rare display of humor. She ducked her head, pulling at her sundress, which was much shorter than she had remembered it when she had bought it. 

“Is that new?” Nicholas asked her and she turned to him in surprise.

“My dress?” 

He nodded. “I haven’t seen you wear that particular one before.”

Belle, stunned that he recalled the clothes she usually wore, nodded uncertainly. “It was actually going to be my rehearsal dress,” she admitted, playing with the dark blue fabric. “My colors were blue and gold.”

“Oh,” he said, taken aback. “I’m sorry.”

Belle shook her head, looking around at the outdoor venue. “This was where we were going to get married, did I tell you that?”

Storybrooke Farms was just on the edge of town. The apple orchard here was beautiful in the spring but in early summer, with the smell of summer blossoms in the air, it was truly magnificent. Shang had suggested it, and Gaston had been taken with the rolling hills and horses roaming in the pasture nearby. Now, with the rows of chairs and the small gazebo set up at the front of the orchard, it looked like a summer solstice celebration. 

“They should have relocated,” Nicholas grumbled. “The same day too.”

Belle looked back at him. “You have a good memory,” she remarked, rather touched. “I didn’t think you would have remembered.”

“You asked off,” he reminded her, looking away. “I had the days marked on my calendar.”

“Oh,” she nodded. “Of course. Still,” she sighed, “I always wanted a winter wedding.”

“Bit surprising,” he replied. “Cold, I’d imagine.”

Belle smiled. “In the woods, preferably. I always wanted a big tree, towering over us, reminding everyone that love takes time, it grows strong when nurtured and blossoms every year, despite all hardships and trials.”

“The tree would be dead in the winter,” he pointed out, sounding grumpy. “Defeats the whole purpose.”

“Pine trees, don’t,” she teased, elbowing him gently. “Stop stepping on my dreams, Mr. Gold.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied, catching her elbow with his own and nudging her playfully in return. “What else would you plan?”

Belle thought about it, finding it rather calming to plan the wedding she would never have gotten if she married Gaston. “A friend to officiate,” she thought out loud. “Very small, just the people nearest and dearest. The reception could be back in town, with more people invited to celebrate.”

“A band perhaps?” he suggested and Belle nodded, seizing on the idea. 

“Jazz,” she agreed. “We’d serve finger foods mostly, with a chocolate cake and buttercream frosting!”

“I don’t like buttercream,” he sighed, in mock disappointment. “I’ll have to decline my invitation.”

“We can’t have that,” Belle laughed. “How about turtle cheesecake instead?”

He smiled, nodding in approval. “Open bar?”

“Mr. Gold,” Belle reproached laughingly. “You can’t ask that!”

“Sure I can,” he grumbled. “No wedding should make you pay to drink.”

“Hear, hear,” a voice said from in front of them and Belle laughed as Gold flushed in embarrassment at being overheard. Before she could reply, the music began, signaling the wedding party was about to walk down the aisle. 

“Here we go,” Belle sighed, clenching her fists in her lap. She let her eyes fall shut, reminding herself that this was all for the best, and no one thought any less of her for failing to marry a man she didn’t truly love.

When she felt someone’s hand take her’s, squeezing it softly, she opened her eyes to find Nicholas smiling at her. He leaned into whisper, his breath tickling her ear. “You’re the most beautiful woman here,” he said, before retreating to his seat. He let her hand go, placing it back on his cane as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Belle flexed her hand, staring down at it. Nicholas Gold did not say those kinds of things to women, he certainly did not say them to her. A stupid half little grin appeared on her face as the wedding march started, and she stood with the rest of the guests to watch as Gaston and Li walked in, hand in hand, smiling gratefully at their friends and family.

-

After dinner, Belle lounged in her assigned seat, happily laughing at something Nicholas was saying to the people at their table. She had been placed with family originally, but Gladys had Mulan move her to an open table, and Nicholas had somehow taken to telling stories of his son’s wedding as well as his disastrous first marriage, causing howls of laughter from the others. 

“Honestly,” one of the women, an older blonde woman named Kathryn was saying, wiping away tears from her eyes. “You have to stop, those impressions are too much!”

Nicholas smiled wickedly, and Belle reached her hand out to place it on his shoulder. He looked over at her, his odd wicked smile fading away at the familiar gesture. Belle didn’t remove it, letting her three glasses of champagne over dinner give her the courage to smile at him. “Would you like to dance?” she asked. 

He looked down at the table, face clouding. “I’m afraid my leg makes dancing rather...difficult,” he admitted. 

Belle nodded hurriedly, removing her hand to grab for her drink. She was seven times the fool. Just because he was sitting here, being warm and sweet, she had to remember he was doing this as a favor. Here she was she practically throwing herself at him.

As the first dance music began to swell, people began to join in with Gaston and Li, including the couples at their table, leaving them alone. Belle glanced at her phone, noting the time. “We can go,” she whispered. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“You didn’t get to say congratulations yet,” Nicholas reminded her, glancing at his own watch. “It’s not even seven yet.”

Belle felt miserable. She smiled weakly and nodded, returning to her glass of champagne to distract her. She had thought inviting Nicholas would be fine, that she had long ago done away with her silly crush on the older man. Tonight, however, all those old feelings had come rushing back, and she was now drunk at her ex’s wedding, with the one man on god’s green earth who would never want her like that and who was the only one she had ever really wanted.

“Doesn’t matter,” she mumbled. “It’s not like we’re even close.”

Nicholas studied her. “You planned on marrying him once,” he said. 

“Yea,” Belle chuckled darkly, lifting her glass in a mock toast. “Dodged that bullet.”

Someone walking by glared at her and she frowned at them in reproach. Nicholas stayed silent but looked disappointed. “That doesn’t sound like you, Ms. French.”

“How would you know?” Belle demanded. “It’s not like we’re close.”

She instantly regretted it. His eyes went dark as if someone had closed the door behind them. He nodded, and began to stand. “You’re right, my apologies, I shouldn’t have pried. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I should be going.”

“Nick, wait!” Belle cried, reaching out to grab his arm. He stilled, looking down at her in surprise. “I’m sorry,” she said, just as the first dance music died and people began to clap around them. “I didn’t mean that. I’m very fond of you-”

“Likewise,” he said curtly and Belle groaned.

“No, I mean- I’m very fond of you,” she stressed. “I was only marrying Gaston because-”

She fell silent, horrified at her own boldness. She dropped her hands, swiveling back to the table to prop her elbows up and let her head fall into her hands. For a moment, nothing happened as the music changed to an up tempo dance and the DJ implored everyone to sign the guest book.

“Ms. French…”

“Sorry,” she murmured through her fingers. “I’ve just had one too many.”

“Belle.”

At the sound of her name, which to her recollection he had never said before in her life, she looked up to find him reseated beside her, on the edge of his chair so that he was near enough for their shoulders to brush. “Belle, why would you agree to marry a man you didn’t love?”

In the darkness, the lights of the dance floor illuminating his face in greens and yellows, he looked softer, more within reach then he had ever looked before with his suit jacket off due to the heat and his necktie loosened from his impressions earlier. 

“Because,” she murmured, finding bravery in the darkness. “I’m in love with someone who doesn’t know I exist. I thought...I mean I knew Gaston didn’t love me either. It was safe. He wanted someone safe and I did too.”

“Belle,” Nicholas murmured, reaching out to tuck some of the hair behind her ears. “Who wouldn’t love you? You’re an amazing woman. You’re dedicated, driven, loyal-”

“All things an employer wants in an employee,” Belle said darkly. “Not what a man wants in a woman, I’m afraid.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” he told her. “Belle, you’re passionate, intelligent and unerringly positive. Hell, you came to your ex’s wedding. Not many people would do that, no matter what their feelings once were.”

“Thanks,” Belle sighed, smiling weakly. “That’s very sweet of you.”

“It’s not,” he said forcibly. “It’s not sweet at all. I’m your employer, for god’s sakes. I’m twice your age, and I’m sitting here trying to tell you how wonderful you are and I’m failing miserably.”

“Nicholas-”

“You’re beautiful,” he said in a rush, breathing heavy. Belle fell silent, mouth falling open as he continued. “You drive me to distraction with those eyes, and when you smile at other men I want to run them out the door. Those dresses of yours will be the death of me, and when you told me you were getting married, I drank myself into a stupor.”

He fell quiet, just as the music started to play a slow waltz. A few left the dance floor, laughing as they headed to the bar or to collapse at their tables. Gaston and Li ambled off the floor, arm in arm as they stopped at the first table to thank their guests for attending. 

“God knows why I told you that,” he groaned, “but I can’t sit here and have you think you’re not worth anyone. You’re worth ten of me alone.”

“You think all that?” Belle asked, turning till her knees brushed his. The feel of his suit’s fabric against her bare knees made her shiver, but she grabbed his hands, taking his cane from them to lean it on the table beside them. He looked down at their hands, realization setting in that she was not horrified or running from him and hope began to bloom on his face. “Do you really?”

“God help me,” he sighed, lifting her hands to his mouth and depositing a chaste kiss on her knuckles. He did it so slowly and carefully that it would have broken her heart if she wasn’t beside her with gleeful disbelief. “I’ve been falling in love with you since the moment you came home from college, determined to save the world one cause at a time.”

“You never said,” she whispered. 

“You never did either,” he replied. Belle’s close to tears found herself laughing, his rich chuckle joining hers. Before she could get her thoughts straight, he was tugging her upwards. “Shall we?” he asked, indicating the dance floor.

“You’re leg,” Belle protested, moving to cup his elbow on the side of his bad leg. 

“If you don’t mind us leaning a bit to the left,” he said with dark humor. “We should be able to manage a sway or two.”

Helping him to the dance floor, Belle tried to rationalize what was happening. “Weren’t we just fighting?” she asked him, as he moved to take her in his arms. He lifted her arm, moving his other arm around her back. She ignored this, wrapping her arms around his neck and forcing him to place his hands around her waist.

“Belle,” he grumbled into her ear. “This is how my grandson dances.”

“Good for him,” Belle replied cheekily, burying her face in his chest. Nicholas didn’t reply, but his hands floated to her hips, and they swayed lost in their own thoughts as the slow music slid around them. He smelled of his cologne, musky underneath and of fresh laundry. Belle inhaled deeply, marveling at the way his heart sounded against her cheek, and the feel of his chest rising and falling. “Could we stay like this forever?” she asked as the music began to slow.

“I doubt it,” he said resignedly. “I think the DJ is about to play the Electric Slide and we may be in the way.”

Her laughter, loud and bright, filled the entire hall as the music died away. From across the room, where he was standing with his new husband, Gaston smiled as he watched the two of them limp off the dance floor. They collected their things and disappeared from the hall, looking like it was they instead of the newlyweds who were sneaking out for an early honeymoon. 

“What is it, love?” Li asked when he realized Gaston was not listening to the table’s well wishes. “Something the matter?”

“No,” Gaston said, returning his attention to his husband. “Something long overdue finally happened is all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. No beta, so if you saw a mistake, let me know. 
> 
> Thanks!


End file.
